Temple Beth Zion/Westminster Presbyterian Church Travel'Blog'
January 18, 2010 – Greetings from Mount of Beatitudes! (Tel Aviv, Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, Old City Jerusalem, Masada, Yad Vashem, Ben Gurion Airport)
Faced with rain today our guide explained the water situation in Israel. She said Lake Galilee is the only fresh water lake in the nation and provides drinking and irrigation water for much of the country. The past five winters have had less than average rainfall so there is concern about the ‘deficit spending’ of water from the lake. In fact, the Jewish prayer book inserts a single sentence prayer asking for rain for the crops and people in Israel. Jews around the world say this prayer daily. So not only did we feel better about the rain today we accepted it as divinely inspired.
First stop this morning was the mountain where Jesus is reputed to have preached the Sermon on the Mount. After our group gathered at the spot I read the first twelve verses from Matthew 5 and commented that this sermon is sometimes compared to Moses giving the law on Mt. Sinai. Today the scene is occupied by a Roman Catholic church and gardens. Scholars believe the present day site is plausible since the side of the hill is clearly a naturally shaped amphitheater ideal for speaking to a large crowd.
A view of the Sea of Galillee from The Mt of Beatitudes.
We then made our way northeast to Caesarea Philippi where Peter made his confession that Jesus was the Messiah. This location is a three day journey on foot from Galilee and was, in Jesus’ day, inhabited by non-Jewish people who would have not cared or known what a Messiah was; in other words a good place to reveal his identity for the first time. Again we read the biblical reference to this pivotal moment in Jesus’ life and talked about its significance.
We continued our journey north through the Hula Valley – a fertile region that produces citrus, bananas and avocados among other crops – and runs along the western edge of the Golan Heights – a natural fifty mile border between Israel and Syria that the Israelis took control of during the 1967 Six Day War. The Golan Heights are also important as a means of capturing precious water for the region’s rich agricultural projects.
Our destination was Tel-Dan – a beautiful nature preserve and the location of ruins from the ancient Tribe of Dan when they were under 
the leadership of Solomon’s son. We walked through the preserve to the ancient ruins and read the story from 1 Kings of the tribe’s attempts to capture the land occupied by the Philistines on the coast. Tel Dan is spitting distance from Lebanon and the modern day town outside the preserve was one of the targets of the 2006 war for Hezbollah rockets.
The last stop was a small town perched high on a mountain comprised of maze of narrow cobblestone streets with a gutter running through the middle. Given the heavy rain today the gutter was a sluice of rushing water. The town became an important location during the sixteenth century for the study of Jewish mysticism as found in the Kabala. Our visit included a stop in one of the best known synagogues/schules where the Kabala was and is studied. The synagogue was built by Sephardic Jews – from North Africa and reflects the interest in mysticism with its myriad symbols, light blue walls, and three arks including one copied by a the sixteenth century rabbi to whom so many students of Kabala were attracted. Tomorrow a boat ride on the lake, Nazareth and Jerusalem! Hope you can join us.